STABILITY

STABILITY. In Greek isobios askesis, stability is the principle that monastics should remain lifelong in the monastery of their profession. It is nominally upheld in the Orthodox Church, even enshrined in the canons of the Fourth and Seventh Ecumenical Councils (q.v.) and in Byzantine legislation. It seems, however, never to have been applied with absolute rigor, particularly in the case of male monastics. The movement of monks from one monastery to another, from monastery to hermitage, and even back again, continues to be a feature, for good or ill, of Orthodox monasticism (q.v.).